Sony: We Trounced Microsoft’s Console Sales in January

Every month, NPD Group compiles sales data for the videogame market that is sometimes spare on key numbers. That hasn’t stopped Sony from declaring that its PlayStation 4 is decisively trumping Microsoft 's Xbox One.

PlayStation 4 had the greatest console sales in the month, NPD said, though the group didn’t quantify by how much. But Sony, in a statement emailed to reporters late Thursday, said sales of its new console were nearly double that of “the nearest next gen competitor” and that the PS4 remains the cumulative sales leader since the two machines were launched in November.

“It’s clear gamers are choosing PlayStation as the best place to play,” said Guy Longworth, Sony’s senior vice president of PlayStation brand marketing. “Although PS4 remains severely constrained at retail, we are working hard to refresh supply as quickly as possible.”

Microsoft, in its own statement, didn’t indicate how its hardware sales stood in relation to Sony’s. But it said its consoles are doing the best in prompting consumers to buy new games.

The figures from NPD revealed that Xbox “sold the most games across all console platforms in January with 2.27 million units sold, making up 47% of software market share,” said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of marketing strategy and business for Xbox.

Mehdi said the team is particularly excited about the forthcoming title “Titanfall,” which is exclusive to Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC — and, one assumes, could drive more hardware purchases.

NPD’s numbers mainly focused on the total growth of the market. Hardware sales rose 17% compared to the same monthly period in 2013, which had five weeks compared to four weeks for 2014. Normalizing to account for that difference, hardware sales were up 47%, the research firm said.